Pictures 2: Great Smoky Mountains National Park landscapes

I will actually have two entries of the Smokies; one of landscape-type shots, one of settlements.

So this is the former.

These are primarily taken along the Cades Cove Loop road. Here's a map; click to enlarge.

Click any image to see the larger version on Photobucket.


People were totally blown away by deer in the fields. I invite them to New Jersey, where they are as plentiful as rodents.


Driving around the Cades Cove Loop.

24 more pictures after the jump...




Along the Cades Cove Loop


All these idiots got out of their car to get a closer look at two bears feeding in the woods. NO SERIOUSLY PEOPLE. GO CLOSER. DARWINISM AT WORK.


Somewhere in there you can kinda see a little black dot that is the bear. And yes, I took these from a moving car. We weren't about to stop.


on the Cades Cove Loop


Ditto


Ditto again (thritto?)


Emily (Patrick's 3-year-old) decided at one point that she wanted to run in the field. She went out pretty far before Pat started following her. JD (15) and I were back by the car, and suddenly all these other cars started pulling up near where we were, and people started getting out and pointing... and finally some astute observer exclaimed disappointedly, "Oh, it's a BABY!" (I guess they thought she was some kind of white bear cub?...)


Running back to the car


JD led us to a tiny graveyard way out in a field in a seemingly random location; but park rangers say that it's suspected that some of the churches were moved from their original locations. It would make a lot more sense if a church had been in the middle of this field.


Patrick got those binoculars for Emily the week before, and she pretty much never put them down. But walking while looking through binoculars can be perilous, as she learned.


Sunset in Cades Cove


Returning back to camp - the Cades Cove loop closes each day at sunset.


The next day, Pat, JD and Emily went hiking to Chimneytops. Blake and I stayed back at the car and did this.


I also took pictures of The Readheaded Bitch, as this doll is known... When Pat and Clint came to Madrid for the first time, Linda (my friend, Pat's aunt) sent them off with this doll as their "groupie." She's been photographed in various locations in all kinds of compromising positions.


See? You can tell she's a total bitch.


JD and the dog he wants to steal


Vicious pit bull, right?


Totally vicious.


Pretty much the cutest kid ever. Looking at Patrick, who'd have thought? Hardy har har, just kidding, sweet cheeks.


Day 3 in the Smokies, Pat and I were childless and spent our time... doing the same thing we did when the kids were there: driving the Cades Cove Loop. Cades Cove has a riding stable, and the horses were out grazing.


The grass is always greener...


We made friends with this horse. Actually, we were just standing by the good grass.


This isn't exactly in the park, but it's an overlook on the way to the Cherohala Skyway, looking down on the town of Gatlinburg (just outside the park) - which is pretty much the tackiest, flashiest tourist trap on Earth. Like my mom said, "It's like driving down the boardwalk in Seaside Heights."


Looooooooooooooove.